


a liar by your side

by YellowMagicalGirl



Series: Juliet Dies; Life Continues [6]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Claire Nuñez Doesn't Escape the Shadow Realm During the Eternal Night, Bathing/Washing, Body Horror, Claire Nuñez has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Claire might be a little OOC but she's also been through so much trauma, F/M, Hair Washing, If she wasn't OOC then I wouldn't be portraying her trauma accurately enough, Malnourishment, More like the play gets quoted, Not Wizards Compliant (Tales of Arcadia), Past Torture, Rescue, Romeo and Juliet References, Temporary Character Death, Title from an Evanescence (Band) Song, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, no beta we die like Angor, non-sexual nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26852188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl
Summary: Months after she locked herself in the Shadow Realm to save the world, Jim went to retrieve Claire's corpse. He found something different than he expected.Not canon to the series.
Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez
Series: Juliet Dies; Life Continues [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1482134
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	a liar by your side

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Day 5 of Whumptober (WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?: Rescue) as well as to help myself get re-acclimated with this particular universe. This takes place about a month or two before Claire canonically escapes the Shadow Realm in Juliet Dies in this.
> 
> I am taking liberties with the arrangement of Claire's house in this.

“And you’re sure this will take me to Claire’s body?” Jim asked.

“Of course.” The sorcerer grinned as Jim placed down his amulet in the center of the patter of purple dust he had drawn on the ground of the alleyway. In the distance, Jim could hear Toby grumbling about how Jim always had to play the hero. This wasn’t a case of that, though. No one would be a hero for Claire, not when she was already dead. The only reason why Jim had gone alone was because the sorcerer had seemed scared. Maybe it was because he used shadow magic, and was scared that a troll would try to take revenge on him for being connected to Morgana even though the only connection was shadow magic? That was stupid, though, considering that Claire had used shadow magic to save the world.

Magical red ropes suddenly wrapped themselves around Jim’s body. The sorcerer created a knife and sliced it across Jim’s hand. “Baba Yaga, Pale Lady, Eldritch Queen,” the sorcerer began. Damn it. He was definitely connected to Morgana. “I bring you the Trollhunter, to do with as you will. In return, I ask that you impart a fraction of your great power into me.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Toby shouted, running down the alleyway. At the same time, the sorcerer kicked Jim through the portal.

The first thing Jim heard when the portal closed behind him was the slamming of a door, and then fast and frantic breathing. Jim looked toward the sound of the noise. He blinked once, twice, three times. He couldn’t believe his eyes, not when the person standing in front of the door was wearing the armor that belonged to -

“Claire?”

She spun around. Her eyes were that same horrible, beautiful purple that had haunted his nightmares of her dying before she had died for real. Except here she was, alive. Blood was splattered across her face, and cracks ran across her cheeks but she was _alive_

She screamed and flung her arms protectively in front of herself; Jim was knocked over by a wave of purple magic. “You’re not real, I know you’re not real I saw you die _get away from me!”_

Jim frowned at how hoarse her voice was, like she had been doing nothing but screaming. They had left her here to be tortured by Morgana. He slowly stood up, hands up in a placating gesture. “If I’m not real, then I can’t hurt you. But I’m real, and I’m going to give you a hug if that’s okay.”

“If you’re not real, you might’ve been sent here by _her._ To bring me back; I just escaped and why would she let me go?” Still, Claire let him hug her. She practically melted into his embrace. Jim slowly ran his fingers up and down one of her arms, wondering if she would be able to feel his touch through her armor.

“I won’t let Morgana hurt you ever again,” Jim said, hoping that he would be able to keep his promise.

“I saw you die; I saw her kill you!”

“I mean, I got knocked out, and it left scars.” Jim watched as her eyes flicked towards where the lines of the armor got branded into his skin from Morgana’s blow. “But I didn’t die. We all thought you did, and I thought I would just have found your corpse. I’m so happy you didn’t die.”

Claire stiffened in his arms.

“I’m going to go take a shower. Get the blood off. Will you grab clothes for me?”

“Of course.” Jim led her up the stairs to the upstairs bathroom, and with reluctance parted from her so he could grab clothes. It took longer than he had hoped, but he eventually found underwear as well as a pair of pajamas. They had purple polka-dots, and the pants had pockets. He hoped Claire would appreciate the clothes he had picked out.

He walked back to the bathroom, making sure to announce his presence before he got there. “Hey, Claire? I’m going to hand you your clothes, or would you rather me put them on the counter?”

Beyond the door, he heard hyperventilating and weak, distressed cries.

“Claire? I’m going to come in.”

He found Claire clawing at her too-pale skin. Her armor was nowhere to be found, but there was a purple crystal on the counter. He couldn’t tell what color her hair was anymore due to all the grime, but it didn’t look like the healthy brown-black. Black cracks covered her body. Her bra hung loosely on her chest, and even though he averted his eyes he could make out the small craters near her heart. It was easy to see her ribcage. Her arms and legs were too thin. In between the long black cracks there were thin scars criss-crossing Claire’s back. They looked like she had been flogged.

“Claire?”

She looked up at him, and her hyperventilating got louder. “Go away, you don’t want me!” “Yes, I do, Claire. I’ve wanted you back since I woke up and you were gone.”

“I’m not her anymore _I can’t be Claire anymore!”_

“Okay. You’re not Claire anymore.” Jim took a step towards her. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. So Claire would, were she not Claire called, retain that dear perfection which she owes without that title.”

She either smiled or grimaced as her breathing evened out by a fraction. “You’re messing up my lines.”

“Give me a break, it’s been nearly a year since the play.” He took another step towards her. “So, doff thy name, and, for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself.”

“You wouldn’t call me but love if you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“What she _did_ to me. I’m not me anymore, I can’t be.”

“Claire, I should have told you this before you made the giant portal, but I love you. I just, you know how I’m bad with words and speaking my feelings. I should have told you sooner, and I regretted not telling you because I thought you had died before I could tell you.” Claire flinched, but Jim kept speaking. “Nothing that Morgana has done to you could change the fact that I love you.”

Claire took a step back, squeezing her eyes shut and tucking her chin between her collarbones. She shook her head as she made fists in her hair. “Well, you’re too late to tell me before I died. She killed me, and she brought me back over and over again. I’m not me anymore, I’m just inhabiting the corpse. You can’t love me. You can’t love the person I’ve become! No one can!”

Jim swallowed. They had all been so horribly wrong. It had never been an either-or calculation of death versus torture. Not with how Morgana had brought back Angor Rot.

“Oh, Claire.” He took a small step towards her. “I wish I had figured out a way to save you sooner. And I wish you would let me judge if I can love you after everything. I think I can. I want to try. I don’t think I could _not_ love you.”

Claire lowered her hands from her hair and looked up at him. “I’m not me anymore, though. I’m a mess of dark magic.”

“And I’ve got blue skin and horns. Trust me when I say it doesn’t matter what you are.” He took a final step towards her. She collapsed into his arms, sobbing. Jim tried not to hug her too tightly.

They stayed like that for several minutes until Claire began to try and uncurl herself from Jim. Her limbs were sluggish and her eyebrows pinched together in pain.

“I… I don’t think I’ll be able to take that shower.”

“Do you want my help, or…” Jim regretted the words as they left his mouth. She probably wanted privacy for the first time after all these months.

“Please?” Or Jim was wrong, and what Claire wanted was someone to give her kindness.

Jim turned on the water, hoping it would warm up. He then helped Claire finish undressing herself. He averted his eyes both to give her privacy as well to try and avoid the rising bile and guilt with every new scar revealed to him. A thought occurred to him.

“Hey, is it okay if I strip down to my shirt and boxers? That way I won’t be soaked afterwards.”

Claire nodded, and Jim quickly took off his outer layer of clothes before helping her into the shower. The water was surprisingly warm, and she leaned into the warmth. He gave her a bar of soap while he began to carefully massage shampoo into her hair, careful to avoid her eyes. As he did so he talked. He talked about her parents, and her brothers, and about their friends. He wasn’t entirely sure if she was listening, but he hoped he was distracting her from everything that had happened to her since the Eternal Night.

He continued to talk as he turned off the water and wrapped his girlfriend in a towel. He wrung out the ends of his shirt before helping her to get dressed. Her movements were even more sluggish than before, but she didn’t seem to be in as much pain.

“Do you want to eat something?” Jim asked as he put the rest of his clothes back on, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of putting dry clothes on top of wet clothes. “I can make some chicken broth.”

“’m not hungry,” Claire said as she ran a comb through her hair. Her _white_ hair. “Just want to sleep.”

“Okay, do you want me to prepare something as you sleep?”

Claire shook her head as she plucked the crystal from the countertop and placed it in her pocket. “No. Stay, please?”

“Of course.”

Claire fell asleep almost as soon as she laid down in her bed. She gripped his hand more tightly than Suzy Snooze. With his other hand, Jim carded his fingers through her hair.

Hours passed, and Jim heard Toby’s voice. “Jimbo? Jim, are you there?”

“Up here,” he called in a soft voice. Thankfully he didn’t wake Claire up. Nor did the pounding of Toby’s feet.

“Jimbo, why didn’t you listen to all those ‘don’t talk to strangers’ talks and… no.” Toby’s jaw dropped before he pressed his hands to his mouth “Is that…?”

Jim nodded. “Can we let her sleep, or are you on a time limit to rescue me?”

“I mean, Douxie, Krel, and Zoe _really_ don’t want to keep this portal open longer than necessary. Oh, Jim, I didn’t think she was still alive. We should have rescued her sooner.”

Jim slowly began to shake his girlfriend awake. She woke with a shriek, arms and legs clumsily bunching up to protect her vital organs.

“It’s safe, you’re safe,” Jim soothed. Claire looked around.

“TP?”

Toby had never looked happier to be called by that nickname. “I’m here. Let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Now imagine Claire going through all that alone without hope of a rescue for a sneak peak of how bad things are for her in the canon of this universe.


End file.
